


Full Circle

by Anonymous



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Multi, Not KH3 Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-15 17:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17532809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: They're back at the islands again and they'll make sure their hearts will stay connected, no matter what.





	Full Circle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pettycoat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pettycoat/gifts).



> This goes sideways before the start of KH3; there aren't any spoilers for it here.
> 
> I hope you like this!

Sora opens his eyes slowly, squinting into the warmth of the sun. The light gleams off the ocean and he yawns and falls back, arms spread-eagled, to lie on the sand.

"Sora," Kairi's voice sing-songs, and he opens one eye to see her face way too close.

"Whoa, hey!" he yelps, swinging upright, and she laughs when he barely misses hitting her forehead with his. "Kairi!"

"Don't tell me you were going back to sleep already," she chides, rocking back on her heels. Sora clambers to his feet - or tries, overestimating, and then trips over, arms flailing - and Riku's there, catching his arm and holding him steady. If Kairi's face is unfamiliar rounded with baby-fat, her hair cropped short to her face, then Riku's is even stranger; like falling back into those dreams, Riku is just the way he remembers him, nostalgia tinted with the shadows of darkness in his eyes. 

"It's Sora, what do you think?" Riku teases, smirking, and Sora grins at him sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I wasn't _sleeping_ ," he protests. "Just... thinking."

"Wow, Sora," Kairi says, amused, "you really haven't changed one bit."

Maybe, in the end, he hasn't. Back here on their island, on their world, it feels more like that than ever; Sora's spent too much time being his old self in his dreams. "Yeah," he says, and grins at her. "So it's lucky we're back here, right?"

"That's one word for it," Riku says, laughing, and he looks over the island's beach to the cove. "How about one more race for old time's sake? Winner gets..." He slants a familiar competitive look Sora's way. "Winner gets to share a paopu fruit with Kairi."

"Riku!" 

When Kairi swats him, Riku rubs at his shoulder and holds up his hands in amused surrender. "C'mon, we've only got a few days. You can't blame me for wanting to make the most of it, right?"

"And the most of it is _this_?" Kairi says, laughing.

"Yeah, okay," Sora cuts in, stretching his arms over his head. His limbs still feel unfamiliar, but he thinks Riku's probably the same way. "Paopu fruit. Kairi. You're on."

Kairi narrows her eyes. "And if I beat you both?"

"Save that for the Heartless," Riku advises sagely. "Ready, Sora? I'll even give you a head start."

"Get ready to eat my dust," Sora says, smugly, and runs.

The sand disappears under his feet as the salt in the ocean breeze stings his cheeks. Sora and Riku both know their paths like the backs of their hands and Kairi is just a step behind. They do a loop around the cove and end up shoving each other in the tight corners of the cave, Sora elbowing Riku as he clambers to get ahead -- and then they're in their old Secret Place, the open walls holding fading chalk drawings that chronicle moments from a lifetime ago.

They all glance briefly at the door.

"I win," Sora announces, though he's not even sure he did; Riku's face twisted in a grimace when he saw it and the hauntedness doesn't quite leave his eyes. Sora kicks at his shin and Riku, expression lightening, rolls his eyes. "That means I get to decide what we're doing tonight!"

"And what's that?" Kairi says, hands on her hips and head tilted in such a familiar way Sora feels awkward all over again for the years he missed not being by her side. "It better be good, or I'm calling a rematch."

Sora scrambles for something. "Bonfire on the beach?"

"Gotta let Kairi show off her new tricks, huh?" Riku smirks at him before he looks over to her. "What do you think?"

"I've got more than just Lea's fire tricks up my sleeves," she says, and flicks her fingers, lit up with a few crackling sparks. "You picked it, you can set it up. Right, Sora?"

Her smile is as bright as it ever was, untainted by the darkness that slowly encroached on their lives. Sora protests: "Hey, I already got everything for the raft - !"

"Right, Sora?" Kairi repeats, leaning forward, eyes wide and entreating. "I'm sure Riku would love to help, too."

"Don't drag me into this," Riku says, but he comes when Sora yanks at his elbow, and smiles at Kairi's following laugh.

Honestly, it isn't that much work to find a few dry logs to add to a pile. Kairi doesn't sit idle on the beach, instead coaxing Tidus and Selphie into a match while holding a wooden sword that sits awkwardly in her hands; Riku has built up dried branches and rough stones into a makeshift pyramid on the emptier side of the island, and is watching Kairi from his own usual spot when Sora finally joins him. "This is it, isn't it?" he says, not quite directed at Sora, and when he looks up Sora's startled all over again by how young he looks, by how much he'll grow. "...I missed this, you know."

"Yeah," Sora says. On the other side of the boardwalk, Kairi kicks up sand in a delicate twist and brings her sword down on Tidus's head. He drops to the sand, hands raised and laughing, and she waves at Selphie over at the boats. The sunlight's starting to wane, shading to fire-touched orange and red, and it catches on Kairi's bright hair. "We've really come full circle, huh?"

"I don't know," Riku says lazily, "things have changed. You might even give me a challenge now."

Sora makes a sound in protest and kicks at him, but Riku's quick enough to dodge. "I learned how to time travel!"

"If only you picked up a few more skills," Riku teases, "then Kairi might not have beaten you to Keyblade Master - "

"I'll show you _Keyblade Master_ ," Sora says, brandishing his Keyblade, and Riku dodges his first half-hearted swipe, leaping back and summoning his own.

This isn't like fighting Riku in Hollow Bastion, for all that they're clashing Keyblades, or like fighting him here on the islands, where their friendly competition had slowly grown an edge Sora hadn't noticed at the time. This is like fighting with Riku, that back-to-back ease of combat against Xemnas, the knowledge of each other's moves and skills and that they're both only playing, the light-hearted competition that few of their fights have had before. Sora tracks Riku's dodge and Riku pushes his Keyblade back, strength still in the muscles of his arms, and when Sora brings out his magic Riku blocks it and laughs.

"You can do better than that, Sora," he taunts, darkness pulling together at his fingertips, and Sora grins at him.

"Oh, you're on!"

In the end it's Kairi who breaks them apart, a slash of her Keyblade on the sand pulling up a shimmering barrier of light. "You done yet?" she says, smiling. "We'd better get the fire started before it's totally dark." She holds up her free hand, dangling a basket by her fingertips. "Wakka went back and got us some - "

"Marshmallows!" Sora exclaims, snatching it from her hands and darting away when she reaches for it; it turns into another chase across the sand, Kairi's bright laugh in his ears. When he glances back he sees Riku ambling along behind them, hands in his pockets, and when Kairi makes another grab for the food Sora sidesteps and picks up the pace.

He slows to a stop in front of their makeshift bonfire, and Kairi lights it with a flash of fire magic until it catches, crackling light against the darkening sky. "There's one other thing," she admits, shifting on her feet as Sora collapses on the sand. He rolls over to see her face, the shadows across her faint, crooked smile. "Sora, about tomorrow..."

Tomorrow. Tomorrow, the door will open, and darkness will overtake the islands once more. Tomorrow, he'll -

Riku interrupts her. "Weren't we leaving that talk to another day?"

"Riku," Kairi says, "let me finish, okay?"

They exchange a glance. Sora says, "It's not like I'll never see you again, guys."

Riku's mouth twists. "You're still going on alone."

"No he isn't," Kairi says, at the same time as Sora's loud, "No, I'm not!" Sora grins at her and she smiles back, just as Riku shakes his head with a sigh. 

"I don't mean that 'our hearts are connected' stuff," Riku starts, and Kairi playfully wrinkles her nose at him.

"They are," she says, with the bone-deep certainty that's kept Sora going forward ever since the start. "But that isn't what I wanted to say - Sora, just look already."

"Look at what?" Sora sits up just in time to catch the picnic basket before Kairi drops it on his head, and this time he opens it all the way, past the tempting container of marshmallows to - "A paopu fruit?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Kairi says, giggling. "Come on, Sora, both of you keep bringing it up. And I saw that drawing you did on the wall."

Sora can feel his face turn red, embarrassment making him duck his head. "Uh..."

"Admit it already," Riku says, amused, though his smirk softens when Kairi elbows him. "Seriously, though. Sharing a paopu fruit entwines people's destinies, right?"

The paopu fruit is delicate in Sora's hand, soft and golden-orange in the firelight. He looks at it, and then at Riku and Kairi: his best friends, the two people he loves with all his heart. And maybe the tenor of it has changed, as Sora chased after Kairi's heart and then Riku's, battling to bring them both back to the light, but they're both his in all the ways that matter, except this one.

Tomorrow, their islands will fall again to darkness. Tomorrow, Sora's going to be the one leaving them, following the connection of his and Ventus's entwined hearts to the Realm of Darkness, to the one who needs them the most. Tomorrow, Riku and Kairi will be the Keyblade wielders, sealing the darkness encroaching on all worlds, meeting the people Sora would have known, the friends he'll never forget for the places they've carved out in his heart - 

"We don't need it, do we?" Sora asks. "We'll always find each other."

"Yeah," Kairi says, "but we can still stack the deck a little."

She leans forward to take the paopu fruit from his hands, and then kisses him in a rush. Sora's shocked to stillness as her nose bumps his, and when Kairi pulls back he's still staring at her, eyes wide. "Kairi, what - "

She says, firmly, "We'll see each other again. No matter what."

A piece of the paopu fruit is set against his lips, and Sora opens his mouth, not sure if he's objecting or not. It's starchy and sweet against his tongue. Kairi's smile gentles as she breaks off another, taking a step back to look at Riku; he's watching them both, eyes shadowed, head bowed. His eyelashes fall against his cheeks when Kairi leans up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth, but whatever she says to him then, it makes him look at Sora with an intensity that makes his heart suddenly and unexpectedly ache.

"You, too?" Sora says, weakly. "Riku..."

"Hey," Riku says, and takes a step closer, until he's near enough to touch. "Sora. Don't change, okay?"

He'll be leaving them behind, but Sora won't ever lose this. Their hearts are connected, their destinies tied; they'll be saving Ventus and Terra and Aqua, fixing whatever problems Xehanort will bring, and then they'll be together again, for good.

"Yeah," Sora says, "I promise."

Riku tastes like the paopu fruit that binds them, and smiles against his mouth.


End file.
